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2025 Student paper competition

CBHD invites undergraduate and graduate students in any field to submit papers that address questions associated with our conference theme—Living in the Biotech Century: The First 25 Years—or that engage more broadly with other foundational and emerging bioethical issues raised at the intersections of medicine, science, technology, and our common humanity. For more information, see the Submission Guidelines below.

Living in the Biotech Century: The First 25 Years

The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity
32nd Annual Summer Conference
June 26–28, 2025
Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL, USA

Deadline: All papers must be submitted online by February 17, 2025.

SUBMIT YOUR PAPER

Prize Information

  • $250, to be awarded at the conference
  • Waived conference registration fee
  • Consideration for publication with CBHD
  • The author will present the winning paper during a parallel paper session at the annual conference (June 26–28, 2025)

Submission guidelines

All serious papers relevant to the study of Christian bioethics are welcome, particularly those in the following subject areas:

- Biblical and/or Theological Anthropology
- Biblical and/or Theological Approaches to Cultural Engagement
- Biblical and/or Theological Ethics
- General Bioethics
- Biotechnology
- Disability
- Emerging Technologies
- End-of-Life Issues
- Ethical Theory
- Historical Theology and/or Perspectives
- Philosophy of Medicine
- Reproductive Technology and Ethics
- Technology Assessment​

‍Questions about whether your paper idea is relevant? Contact us at research@cbhd.org.  ‍‍

Guidelines

  • ‍Submitted papers should not exceed 5,000 words (including notes and references, excluding bibliography) and should be able to be read within 30 minutes. (Please indicate which sections of the final paper [if any] will not be read during the presentation.)
  • All papers will be blind reviewed and evaluated based on the engagement with Christian bioethics, along with the overall quality of scholarship and composition.
  • Submitted papers must not have been submitted for publication elsewhere.‍‍
  • In addition to the paper, all submissions must include an abstract of 250 words and a formal title.
  • The title page should include the following: 2025 Student Paper Competition, title, and name. All subsequent pages should include "Title—page #" in the bottom right of the footer and should include nothing that might identify the author.
  • If students are interested to be considered for the broader call for proposals beyond the single slot allotted to the winner of the student paper competition, they may also submit an abstract of their paper for the general call for proposals before the December 2, 2024 deadline. (In other words, students may submit the same paper for the general call as well as the student paper competition.)
  • Students may submit only one paper to the student paper competition.
  • Co-authored papers are eligible only if all authors are current students (though prize amounts will not be increased).
  • Any student currently pursuing an undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate degree and has not already received a terminal degree (PhD, MD, JD, ED, DMin, etc.) is eligible.
  • Format: Double-spaced; Times New Roman 12-point font; references should follow Chicago Manual of Style, footnote style.
  • In order to receive the award, awardees must attend the conference and cover all travel and personal expenses.

deadline

All papers must be submitted online by February 17, 2025.

About the Conference

We are 25 years into the Biotech Century. Have the predictions, opportunities, and threats that many in the late 1990s wrote about come to pass? From eliminating disease to the development of new technologies and moving toward the Singularity, how have the predictions made in the 1990s fared?

Which opportunities and threats have been realized? What unforeseen issues have arisen? How does the knowledge we have now inform how we view the predictions that were made then? And, perhaps most importantly, how can human beings flourish over the rest of the Biotech Century?  

The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity invites you to join us for our 32nd annual conference, Living in the Biotech Century: The First 25 Years, on the campus of Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. We will assess the fruits of the Biotech Century and delve into the pressing issues before us from a Judeo-Christian, Hippocratic point of view.  

The conference will host plenary sessions addressing:

  • Virtue Ethics
  • Predictions vs. Reality Regarding the Biotech Century
  • The Growth of Assisted Suicide and the Continuing Push toward Euthanasia
  • A Theology of Suffering
  • The Political and Legal Landscape
  • And more.

In addition, workshops and paper sessions will explore a wide spectrum of issues from traditional and emerging bioethical topics.

The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity’s annual conference is the leading forum for engaging in Christian bioethics, providing opportunities for equipping and educating students, professionals, clergy, and lay people, as well as professional development credit, academic engagement, and networking for academic researchers, policymakers, educators, clinicians, thought leaders, and students across a variety of disciplines and professional contexts.

This conference will be available in person, online, or on-demand. There is no wrong way to attend!